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Sermon
Steven E. Albertin
Several years ago at my previous congregation I remember a discussion I had with the church council. It was very revealing of the kind of distorted vision of ministry that is very much afoot in the church these days. I had a sudden change in my vacation plans and was going to have to be out of town for a Sunday that I had not planned on. I was having great difficulty finding another pastor to fi...
Sermon
Robert Salzgeber
Jesus is suggesting the utter disproportionate nature of God's grace in the Mark text when he says, "I assure you that anyone who gives you a drink of water because you belong to me will certainly receive his reward."In other words, Jesus is saying that we do not even have to be conscious of our discipleship in order to receive his redemptive blessing. Simply giving a disciple a drink is just caus...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Before and After. Ante and Post. Each of us has moments, choices, circumstances in our lives that act as a watershed — experiences dividing our life into everything “before” and everything “after.” The event doesn’t have to be devastating or dramatic. Sometimes it is joyful and exhilarating. Sometimes it is a quiet realization. Sometimes it takes decades for us to even determine just when that mo...
4. Wanna Fight?
Mark 9:38-41
Sermon
King Duncan
“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us . . .” What a message this is for our society: “whoever is not against us is for us . . .” That’s not the cu...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is a time-honored story about a Roman Catholic Church that was hosting a community Thanksgiving service. This was to be a first for the church and for the community. Naturally everyone was quite excited. With great dignity the priest led his three Protestant colleagues toward the chancel area when suddenly he realized that he had forgotten to put out chairs for his guests to sit in during th...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
A. J. Jacobs is an American journalist and guinea pig who write books based on plunge experiences. Once he joined Mensa and read all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica to see what it would be like to be “The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (2004). In another plunge experience he decided only to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothi...
Sermon
King Duncan
Gordon Melton scours the country trying to count the number of major denominations in the United States. It has been estimated that there are more than 33,000 denomina­tions of Christianity in the entire world. There are not nearly that many in the U.S., but some of the groups that Melton discovered are kind of interesting. For example, he discovered one group called, “The Church of the Kennedy W...
Sermon
King Duncan
A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco. Mensa, of course, is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. Several of the Mensa members were lunching at a local cafe. While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. The Mensa members, being naturally inquisitive, began to question how they could they...
Sermon
Brett Blair
One person armed with the Gospel of peace can change the world. Telemachus did. Who was Telemachus? He was a monk who lived in the 5th century. And his story is a story of courage. He felt God saying to him, "Go to Rome." He was in a cloistered monastery but he put his possessions in a sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked why all th...
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
There’s a scrap of papyrus (a form of paper made from reeds that grew in the Nile) that has survived the centuries until it was found in the Egyptian desert over a century ago. Although there are gaps in the piece, enough has survived to make it clear what it is. It’s a list of Olympic champions. The Greek Olympic games were held every four years for a thousand years. The list includes champions...
11. Briny Faith
Mark 9:38-50
Sermon
Lori Wagner
When the heart malfunctions it sometimes needs a regulator. It’s called a “pacemaker,” a cardiac pacing device that keeps the rhythm of the heart steady and sure. For those who have heart failure or heartbeat issues, the pacemaker resynchronizes the heart and makes the heartbeat more efficiently. The heart’s electrical system controls the heartbeat. But aging, muscle damage from a heart attack, o...
12. It’s Lonely At The Top
Mark 9:38-50 · Esther 7:1-10; 9:20-22 · Psalm 124 · Numbers 11:4-29
Sermon
Thomas C. Willadsen
Our Old Testament lessons this morning show us two leaders who were terrified. Esther, Queen of the Babylonians, wife of King Ahasuerus, had just thrown a second feast for the king and his right- hand man, Haman. She had invited the two men to a feast the night before, but could not find the courage to ask the king to spare her people. It’s a long story. Esther was a Jew who was living in exile in...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Have you ever had a run-in with a badger? If you have, you’ll know to avoid doing it again! Badgers can be snarly, vicious, and terribly aggressive, especially if you’ve come too close to their burrow or nest. If one passes on the road in front of you, give it a wide berth. Otherwise, you may be running for your life. With sharp teeth and a feisty attitude, the badger is a naturally aggressive ani...
Sermon
Stephen M. Crotts
Last fall the phone rang in my study. It was a newspaper pollster doing a survey on church and society. His main question was, "What would your city be like without the church?"  I was tempted to be funny in my reply. Like the cartoon that shows a pack of wolves howling at the moon. A wolf on the back row is looking worried and asks another fanged friend, "Do you think we're doing any good?" Somet...
Sermon
Thomas Peterson
No mistake. This is a hard text. Jesus was often given to double-edged sayings, paradoxes and extreme comparisons. He spoke ironically and often with biting humor. Here he uses the images of cutting off a hand, a foot, or plucking out an eye. The text begins with the disciples concerned with protecting their turf. All people have vested interests and will go to great lengths to defend themselves ...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
For the above title, I reach back across Matthew's more detailed record of the same message where he recalls that Jesus specified the right hand, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off" (Matthew 5:30). That might be significant because research indicates the somewhere around 85% of humans are right-hand dominant, and it could mean that Jesus is not just saying that a sinning hand should...
Sermon
Donald Macleod
John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, w...
Sermon
Richard Patt
"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?" (v. 50a) The theme "Total Commitment" arouses deep questions within us. How committed a person am I concerning the ideals I hold dear? How much do I really stand up for the truths I have learned? Am I really convinced about my "religious convictions"? What are my commitments in life anyway? A chicken and a pig were h...
Sermon
John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, w...
Sermon
King Duncan
Jesus said on one occasion, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." I doubt that many of us are very offensive to other folks because of our religion. Indeed, it is the norm to be a "Christian" in our society today. We have gained the favor of men, but in gaining favor, have we lost our flavor? That is in our text ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Shridhar Chillal of India hasn't cut the nails of his left hand since 1952. That's almost fifty years ago! No surprise that Shridhar holds the Guinness world record for long fingernails. But Shridhar reportedly doesn't care about fame or even fingernails. He has only one goal: to make money out of his dubious accomplishment. "I haven't had a good night's sleep for 30 years," he complains. He had a...
Sermon
King Duncan
A little girl had been naughty, so she was sent to her room for a quiet time. Afterward, all smiles, she returned to her family, saying, “I prayed to God.” “That’s good,” said her mother. “Did you pray that God would help you be a good girl?” “No,” she replied. “I prayed that God would help you put up with me.” Many of us are like that little girl. We do wrong, but rather than repenting of our ...
23. Salty Saints
Mark 9:42-50
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
“He’s the salt of the earth!” That’s a common expression.  We all know what it means.  It means that the person is “grand guy, one in a million.” It is a badge of honor, an accolade reserved for someone we admire tremendously.  And it all got started in Jesus’ words to His disciples. I.  ACTUALLY, AS IT APPEARS IN MARK’S GOSPEL, THE SAYING IS A BIT CONFUSING.  Commentators have been tearing their...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
I wish that Ted Koppel would run for president.  Sometimes he seems to make more sense than all of the politicians put together.  You know him as the popular moderator of ABC’s “Nightline” program.  In a speech at Duke University a year ago he said this: “We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us.  Shoot up if you must, but use a clean needle.  Enjoy sex whenever and with whom...
Sermon
Rick McCracken-Bennett
There are a couple of Sundays I'd just as soon not preach. One is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday immediately following Pentecost. I've heard more than one priest say that the reason most of us want an assistant or a deacon is so that we can assign them the task of trying to explain how it is we believe in one God, in three persons, and so on. Clergy dislike of preaching on Trinity Sunday is pretty wid...
Showing 1 to 25 of 31 results